Post Scripts: The Second Oldest Profession

The clever use of language is probably the second oldest profession. Adult readers already know what the oldest profession is. Orators and scribes have been part of history since recorded time began. Today, all of us are aware of the industry of professional copy writers, speech writers, public relations "fixers" and media people like me.

In recent decades, all branches of government have excelled in press release acrobatics. There is so much of it, public trust has all but vanished. It is a sad state of affairs. Sometimes our public servants will give us a good laugh by coming up with a term such as "revenue enhancement," which provides comic relief. We all know what a tax increase is. The truth is, most government agencies today spend much of their time and effort trying to hide their activities behind carefully crafted words.

Members of Congress are among the top experts in this endeavor. Most "official statements" are ignored with the result that barely half of eligible voters bother to go to the polls. Statistics are often used by clever politicians to make a point. As Disraeli once said: "There are lies, damned lies, and statistics."

Unfortunately, there are "panic merchants" in government and among writers with access to the public eye. Some will remember the book by Rachel Carson, "Silent Spring," which had a tremendous impact. Perhaps it was overdrawn and dramatic, but it did alert the public to our carelessness toward chemicals that harm our ecosystem. It led to the banning of DDT and, on the whole, was for the good. But no good deed goes unpunished, and we have ended up with a large group of panic merchants.

The prime movers are writers and journalists who make a living by scaring the public. Much of their material devoted to "the dangers out there" is imagined or trivial at best. Most popular are the health scares, pollution of the air, nutrition, medical techniques and synthetic chemicals. Eagerly scanning these articles are lawyers who smell money in these panics, recruit clients, and assemble a stable of compliant witnesses. Public opinion is manipulated shamelessly, and it succeeds because the public is receptive.

Public opinion, in turn, influences legislatures and government agencies. Then we face the triangle of the panic mongers, the aroused public, and embattled government regulators. In the middle is the public, gullible and prepared to believe the worst. Perhaps the child in us makes us relish the mysterious, the dangerous, the evil. What is called entertainment these days reflects this.

We tend to overestimate unknown or uncontrolled dangers and, conversely, to underestimate dangers we think are controllable. Washington has a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. A visitor from space would scratch his head in amazement in learning this bureau is charged with regulating and extracting money from these trades, instead of eliminating these major sources of harm.

Recent history teaches us that we have had peddlers of bizarre medical devices, as well as snake oil and medicines that provided a "head of hair and a new stomach in every bottle," as well as elixirs for female problems. Medicine today, however, is well aware of useless medications and treatments (most of the time), and there are few left who promote fear for gain. Americans are fortunate to have as fine a healthcare system as we have.

The "panic merchants" still abound, however, and what most of us need is a gullibility checkup.